Chapter 290: Chapter 245 Ascites
Suzhou, a land of wealth and abundance, the land of fish and rice.
In past New Years, the city would have been festooned with lanterns, with firecrackers bursting ceaselessly. The streets would be crowded with pedestrians like woven threads and carriages like dragons, with temple fairs succeeding one another. The whole city would be immersed in the joy of the New Year.
As the saying goes, "Under the moon, the knights do wander; by lantern light, a crowd to ponder. Joy unending, song and dance, till the morning light doth glance."
Yet at this moment, Suzhou City appeared particularly... deserted.
On the walls of the buildings along the streets hung remnants of half-hung colorful banners and lanterns.
Passersby hurried by, not daring to stay in one place for too long.
In the canal, usually bustling with boats from all quarters, few vessels were docked; instead, most hastened away—as if there was something unseen and filthy within the city.
Li Ang and Shen Tuyu landed outside the city, mounted their horses, and entered Suzhou City.
"I last visited Suzhou a few years ago," Shen Tuyu sighed. "At that time, I thought it no less prosperous than Chang’an or Luoyang. It’s hard to believe it has fallen into such disrepair because of the Water Poison."
"Infectious disease is fiercer than a tiger," Li Ang said. "Those who could leave Suzhou City and seek refuge with relatives have all gone. The only ones left are those who couldn’t leave, with all their property here."
Li Ang’s gaze swept over the tightly shut doors of the street-side shops, his brows deeply furrowed. For profit-driven merchants to forgo their earnings and cease business... the situation in Suzhou City must be worse than I imagined.
The two rode their horses toward the Governor Mansion. The Suzhou Governor, having learned of their impending arrival in advance through a Nearby Worm, had already prepared a banquet and even humbled himself to greet them personally outside the mansion.
Unfortunately, Li Ang had little inclination to mingle with court officials. After observing the formalities, he immediately requested to visit the sick house.
"Please follow me, esteemed sirs," the Suzhou Commander said. An official of the lower fifth rank, he dared not display the slightest arrogance before Shen Tuyu, the Imperial Palace Tributor, and Li Ang, the Academic Palace Patrol. He obediently led the way.
Due to Suzhou’s wealth and large population, the Suzhou Clinic had been built quite lavishly, covering a vast area.
However, too many patients had flooded in, far exceeding the Suzhou Clinic’s capacity.
Beds filled the rooms and courtyards, and even surrounding residential houses had been requisitioned.
The patients lay in their beds, abdomens swollen, faces sallow, and limbs emaciated. Many coughed violently, hacking up thick, blood-tinged phlegm.
Uniformed, mask-wearing staff were either brewing Herbal Medicine or rushing between beds, carrying basins and fetching water. They were not infected, but their physical condition was also far from good. The overwhelming workload left their eyes heavily bloodshot.
"MAKE WAY! MAKE WAY!"
A middle-aged attendant scurried through the courtyard carrying a spittoon. He accidentally tripped over a pebble, and his body involuntarily pitched forward.
Just as the spittoon was about to spill, a burst of Telekinesis from a distance stabilized both the attendant and the spittoon in his hands.
The Suzhou Commander and the manager of the Suzhou Clinic turned pale with fear. If the spittoon had spilled and the stench had reached the two distinguished guests from Chang’an...
Just as the Suzhou Commander was about to step forward and reprimand the attendant, Li Ang stopped him with a raised hand.
"It’s normal for the sick house to be understaffed and overwhelmed."
Li Ang turned to the trembling attendant. "How do you dispose of the contents of this spittoon?"
"Ah..." The attendant was taken aback for a moment. "We just... pour it into the manure bucket..."
"Doesn’t anyone come to collect it?" Li Ang inquired further.
Due to advancements in fertilization techniques in Yu Country, people specialized in collecting urban human waste, composting it into manure to sell to farmers for a good profit. In some places, there were even so-called Night Incense Guilds.
"There used to be, but not anymore," the attendant answered honestly. "The patients here have severe diarrhea, with bloody mucus in their stool, so no one comes to collect it. We’re short-handed, so we can only dump it into large dung buckets. Every few days, we send it out of the city."
"That’s good. Keep it up."
Li Ang nodded, indifferent to how strange his words might have sounded to the others, and strode through the sick house to the records room to review the medical records.
Previously, at his suggestion, every sick house had begun keeping records of patient information. Reviewing these could reveal the onset of illness, initial symptoms, disease progression, the primary treating Doctor, prescribed medication, and other details.
Li Ang quickly browsed through all the documents, his frown deepening with each one. He suddenly looked up at the Suzhou Commander. "Commander, please find me some maps of Suzhou: river maps, water network maps, and farmland maps. The more detailed, the better. Also, find me a guide familiar with the villages surrounding Suzhou. I intend to leave the city soon."
Without a thorough investigation, one has no right to speak.
However, the investigation’s findings were terrifying.
In the area surrounding Suzhou, across seven counties and over a hundred towns, seventy towns were plagued by Blood-sucking Worm disease. Infection rates in the most severe towns exceeded eighty percent. Over half the population was parasitized by Blood-sucking Worms, resulting in nearly a thousand deaths. Freshly dug graves covered the hillsides and fields.
The situation in the villages was even more despairing.
Entire villages of children had contracted ascites; their bellies were as large as winter melons, their skin sallow, their bodies emaciated. Their parents were also infected with Blood-sucking Worms, uncertain if they could even cultivate their fields this year.
For these villagers, the land was their only source of livelihood. If physical weakness prevented them from farming, it meant they could not afford medicine. Without medicine, their illness would go untreated, impeding their ability to work and trapping them in a vicious cycle: from poverty to illness, and from illness back to poverty.
One by one, these villages would become "Desolate Villages." They would be completely erased from the maps within the next few years.
If the cruelty of a battlefield is blood drenching the sands and corpses wrapped in horsehide, imbued with tragic heroism, then the cruelty of this Water Poison epidemic zone was a silent, profound misery and desolation.
The village walls were overgrown with vines and weeds. In the uninhabited thatched huts, the wind howled mournfully, like the wails of ghosts. Even the emaciated stray dogs by the roadside had swollen bellies, which dragged heavily on the ground, their undersides rubbed raw and bare from the constant friction.
Shen Tuyu carried Li Ang and the guide on his Flying Sword, swiftly surveying the surrounding towns. The grim findings of the investigation were suffocating even for someone as typically lazy and carefree as him.
On the way back to Suzhou City, he couldn’t help but mutter, "Why is it like this?"
He was a Sword Master of the Candle Cloud Realm. Even against the most dangerous Level 1 Mutant Beast, he was confident he could slay it with the Three Feet of Green Blade in his hand. But facing an enemy invisible to the naked eye, where should his sword strike? Where *could* it strike?
"The Water Poison affliction has been known since ancient times," Li Ang said somberly. "Combining the sick house’s medical records and the information provided by those villagers, it seems their villages have always had cases of ascites. But it was never given much attention until it suddenly erupted recently."
What caused the proliferation of the Blood-sucking Worms? Temperature? Rainfall? An invasive species? Or... a mutation?
Li Ang was puzzled. All he could do was race against time to contain the spread of the Blood-sucking Worm epidemic.
But... is it really possible?